Vietnamese to make bird flu vaccination mandatory

Chickens, ducks and white-feathered ducks will be among the poultry included in the programme. In 14 other localities which are considered high-risk areas, compulsory vaccination will be implemented.

For chickens raised on a small scale, vaccination will be encouraged. Vaccination will be enforced for large scale breeding of chickens in the 12 northern mountainous and in the four central highland provinces.

Outbreaks of bird flu started in Vietnam around December 2003 and have since led to forced culling of very large numbers of fowls. This new vaccination programme has been triggered by the current outbreak of bird flu which has hit the northern Cao Bang and central Quang Tri provinces involving 560 birds and 600 ducks respectively.

Related links:

Ministry of Agriculture Vietnam (in Vietnamese)

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